Media bias?

CBC – House passes motion calling on Liberals to resign – The House passed a motion that opposition parties claim should topple the government  but the Liberals have dismissed it as nothing more than a procedural matter.

Grade: C

Describes what happened. However, gives more credit than necessary to the Liberal position: doesn’t convey the controversy of the Liberal position.

CTV – House passes motion asking Liberals to resign – In what could be seen as the beginning of the end for the Paul Martin’s minority government, the Liberals lost a vote on a controversial motion in the Commons Tuesday night.

Grade: B+

Describes what happens and gives sense of gravity of the situation. Also describes the ‘controversial’ motion, but doesn’t seek to lay blame.

National Post – As expected, government loses vote – The House of Commons has passed a motion that calls for the government to resign, but Liberals are shrugging it off as procedural. Though the Liberals tried to block the Conservative motion, they are sticking to their view that losing it doesn’t mean they’ve lost confidence of the House.

Grade: A-

Differs from the CBC description and assigns blame to the Liberals for ‘shrugging’ off the motion. Further blame assigned by the words ‘sticking to their view’. Shows controversy of Liberal position. Not a solid A for editorializing by using the words “As expected”.

The Globe and Mail – Tories, Bloc overpower Liberals – Opposition MPs managed to force a motion through the House of Commons Tuesday demanding the fragile Liberal minority government step down.

Grade: F

Blames the Tories and Bloc with the word “overpower”. Contrast this with the pity generating ‘fragile’ Liberal government. Also, the description of “force” puts blame squarely on the Conservatives for this mess. Juxtaposition of Bloc and Tories villifies the Conservatives. Other headlines use the word “House” because it was the will of the majority of the House of Commons.

Toronto Star – Liberals lose, ignore resignation vote – The opposition powered through a motion today demanding that the wobbly minority government resign, but the Liberals dismissed it as a dress rehearsal for the real non-confidence vote they promise later this month. The outcome will likely mean more disarray in the House of Commons.

Grade: B-

Headline is straight to the point and assigns blame to the Liberals. Even handed and assigns some blame to the opposition because they “powered through” (does not name opposition by name). Lost points on giving credibility to the Liberals for the “dress rehearsal” position. Accurately describes the current state of the House of Commons.

And before anyone says so: Yes, I am biased in ranking media by their bias. But, I hope that this made for an interesting comparison.